Five years into a brutal national housing downturn, raw land
destined for residential development has fallen so far in value that
thousands of acres across the country are being used again for
agriculture.

During the fast-moving days of the housing boom,
real-estate speculators in California, Arizona, Florida and other states
paid top dollar to buy land from farmers and convert it from citrus
groves and cotton fields to potential subdivisions.

Now, with
crop prices soaring and housing in a deep slump, the economics of land
investment have turned upside down. Farmers and investors are buying
land that had been slated ...